Sexual Abuse Survivor

(Read Sexual Abuse Survivor, Part 1 First)

Sexual Abuse Survivor - Can Life Be Worth Living?
As a sexual abuse survivor, you may be asking, can I really move past just surviving and have a life worth living? The answer is YES! YES you can!

You may have heard the phrase: "If it feels good, do it." Perhaps that is how you have been living your life. You are in a standstill, just doing what makes you feel good, loved, and accepted. Maybe that still involves the abuse or some attribute of the abuse. This does not have to be your life!

Maybe you're already beginning to realize that there is more to life than what happened yesterday. As a sexual abuse survivor, I've known emptiness. I know what it feels like to have a deep need for love and acceptance.

Blaise Pascal, a philosopher from the age of enlightenment, determined that there is a God-shaped hole, or vacuum, inside every human being that can only be filled by God. You may have heard stories of sex abuse survivors whose lives have been changed. Maybe you even know someone like that - and you long to be like them. You want to move beyond just coping with the past - you want to be changed! You long for a life of victory.

Sexual Abuse Survivor - Understanding The Longings In Your Soul
That longing you feel is the hole or the void that Pascal mentioned. Only God can fill that vacuum with His unconditional love and acceptance. What's more - He longs to do just that! God became a man in Jesus Christ and lived among humans, so He can identify with us in our humanity. He calls us His beloved and wants us to experience His love. In the Bible, we read 1 John 3:1, which says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." God accepts us just as we are when we come to Him.

Sexual Abuse Survivor - How To Move From Surviving To Overcoming
As a sexual abuse survivor, you can overcome! Isn't that exciting news? How does overcoming work? For starters, God promises us that when we come to Him, we get a brand new beginning. In Jesus Christ, we become new creations! 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" The Word of God says in Jesus Christ we are overcomers: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21). God has already done the work for us, and He loves us just as we are.

As a sexual abuse survivor, you have been through a lot. Learning to live as a new creation is like a toddler learning to walk. The toddler takes it one step at a time.

Physically, we remain injured and will carry the scars as long as we live. But God promises He is there and will never leave us. "…Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). He is there when our minds recall situations, and when our mind, will, and emotions are in darkness and despair. When we suffer mental anguish and condemnation, God is there.

As sexual abuse survivors, we'll find it difficult to reconcile thoughts and feelings regarding love and acceptance. Because of our past, we'll know feelings that combat, tear, and rip the heart and soul apart. No one should have to experience what we have been through. But there is hope.

Because God sent His Son to die for us (John 3:16), we can know that we have value and worth. As a sexual abuse survivor, this concept is hard to wrap the mind around - but it's necessary if we're going to move from a survivor to an overcomer.

The essence of overcoming is realizing that love and acceptance are essential to our healing. We can't do this on our own - in fact, it's impossible! Matthew 19:26 says, "…With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

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